One spring morning in 1973, when I was nine years old, I woke up and my mom was gone. This was one of those, she went out for a loaf of bread and never came back deals, but I didn’t know that then. What I did know, was that it wasn’t entirely out of the question for my parents to be apart. I think my dad played on that fact, and it pacified me at the time. During my first years my family moved a lot and sometimes one parent would go ahead of the other to start a job or find a place to live. I really don’t remember what I felt that morning, and what I do know is still gradually coming to light. It is definitely something for further research. Most of my hard and fast memories begin in the fall of ’73 when I moved back to New Haven,CT (my birthplace) from Denver, to live with my mom. When you’re a kid you don’t always know enough to know what’s really going on and divorce seemed extremely normal in 1973. I’d say half of my friends in 4rth grade were living with their recently divorced single moms. I did have concerns about my parents split and my first impulse was to devise a parent trap to get them back together. After that became an obviously futile task, I started to ask what the plan would be…when would I get to see my dad? My parents opted for the school year w/mom, summer w/dad model. I liked the travel (I got to go on a bunch of plane rides by myself, all grownup like) and most of my friends were going away to camp, so I ended up really enjoying this arrangement. The first 3 summers of my new nomadic existence were spent in Denver (chillin’ in Cheeseman park), and in year 4, I got to spend the summer with my grandparents, who lived on the water near Long Island Sound. “This divorce thing wasn’t so bad”, I told the school counselor I sat with (yeah, I had a few behavioral problems), “I’m adjusted. Just because I like to start fake riots and act like I’ve been wounded by pouring red food coloring all over my shirt, doesn’t mean I have a problem. Can I go back to class, now?” I thought I was headed for a bummer in year 5 though, because my dad was moving to Minneapolis,MN. I had fallen into the New Haven-Denver rhythm, and after spending the past 4 years (despite the breakup) in the most stable environment of my life (In my first 8 years I lived in 6 different states), I wasn’t looking forward to anything new. I was a teenager sick of the new. I’d had enough goddamn changes (Yeah, I was a little angry). Toward the middle of my inaugural summer in the Land O’ Lakes I met a friend and we stayed in touch through the school year, so I calmed down a bit. By the time my second summer in the Twin Cities rolled around things were looking up. I was only 15 that year, but I entered into the workforce, scoring a kush job with my buddy Dan at the local Dairy Queen. No, I did not get sick of soft serve ice cream. The DQ also introduced me to my next Minnesota friend; A cat named Taras, who would end up being a huge tastemaker in my life. It wouldn’t happen for a couple of years, but there were hints that first summer. At the time the only records I had were 45’s, but one day I mentioned to him a song I’d heard played on a news story about British “punk rock”. Just to let you know how messed up US TV was, the song was Ghost Town by The Specials. Not surprisingly, my buddy Taras, knew where to get “different” records, and he picked up the Ghost Town 12” for me. I thanked him and said goodbye..another summer was over. In subsequent summers I lost track of Taras (he was getting deeper into the Minneapolis music scene, living at Bad Manor, cutting his first Ground Zero LP,produced by Bob Mould, and playing shows at Goofy’s Upper deck), entered high school, and began to fall in love with Hip Hop. Despite the brewing storm, I was still not addicted to vinyl,and I remained that way through my teen years. College is partly to blame for my music junkiedom. I arrived with my prized Planet Rock 12”, The Clash, T La Rock, The Specials and not much else. By the time I was kicked out in ’84 (yeah, I still had behavioral issues on top of a wee bit of a drinking problem), I had amassed 3 solid crates of Hip Hop classics. Sugar Hill, Profile, Def Jam, Fever, Enjoy, and Profile were the labels I trusted, and I had begun to get my rock education as well. The “new alternatives” like REM and B-52’s were a nuisance to me at this point , though, because I was all about hip hop, most all of the time. I did retain a small space in my heart for Joy Division, The Clash, and The Ramones. So there I was, kicked out of college, working as a repo man in Minneapolis, and still returning to campus to do my radio show. I spent most of my ill gotten repo gains on records. I was learning that being a hip hop DJ wasn’t just about collecting every 12 that came down the pike, but mastering the breaks and beats from all over the store. So I started to stockpile Reggae, Jazz, Soul,and Rock, alongside the New School jams like BDP and Eric B and Rakim, that started to arrive in 85-86. One day in the record store-where else- I saw my old buddy Taras. He told me about his forays into the music biz and said we should get together, talk about old times, share a Dilly Bar™ or something like that. When I was in college I saw folks with a lot of records, but I never saw anybody (my age) who had what Taras had. Seeing the walls and floors covered with vinyl was the last straw, I would leave his house the junkie I am today. It was just so thrilling to sit in a room full of music, with a head full of (something other than Dilly Bars™..yeah, I used a lot of drugs back then), and listen to it all..or at least try to. Like any music obsessive, Taras wanted to share his latest obsession (sound familiar). I just happened to pop by the week the Meat Puppets released Up On the Sun. I liked it that cold Minnesota day and it still hits the spot this fridgid Brooklyn morning 20+ years later. Taras and I would soon become roommates and he would introduce me to Frank Zappa, SST Records, Quill, Richard Thompson and a whole lot more. He catalyzed and brought to the surface the obsessive streak I’m still on. I don’t know whether to thank him or have him put up on charges, but in the end I love him for what he did. I know the internet is a wonderful place to discover new music and people (present company included), but the experiences I had with my tastemaker, Taras, just seem to resonate a little more than you typical LOL-era music interaction. I guess you can never replicate the moments that make music your life…but I’m still tryin’.
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"New School jams like BDP and Eric B and Rakim..." Wow, you've been around for a while!
Great post, man. I remember my "behavioral issues" when my parents did the whole custody battle thing. Funny how back then it seemed like everybody was making a big deal over nothing.
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Wow, what a great, heart-felt post. My memory is hazy, but I'm pretty sure it was a post quite like this one that first drew me to you.
Ah, memories. The hows and whys of ending up here where we are now. Love it.
The story about your Mom is heart-breaking. I can sorta relate. It always seems worse when it's the Mom who walks away though eh? Sometimes a woman just has to do what she has to do. And we grow up and start to understand a little more with each year that goes by...
love ya, Sir Cody. And what a lovely track.
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I was just wrapping this up all somber, while reading Troy's post and laughing my ass off..Crazy internet..yeah Troy,forget old school, I'm pre-school.
Thanks Queen..I have funk in my trunk and tons of mental rock(s) in my head.
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I have to agree with Kris (btw where are you Kris???)......................what a great post. Both sad and so full of life.
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Great post, Cody. Sounds like we were similarly influenced in the punk/rock arena, even though hip hop was something I never gravitated toward. Thank god for the people who turn us onto the good stuff ... having like-minded music geek/freaks in one's life is priceless. I'm very familiar with Cheeseman Park, btw. If you're ever in Denver again there is at least one other obsessor around these parts! Great track ... I saw the Meat Puppets open up for Black Flag here at the Rainbow Music Hall, circa 1985. Cheers to tastemaker Taras, and you.
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Cody, what a post that was! I feel like I know things about you that I don't know about my closest friends, now and we've never been in the same room. Brave stuff, that's all I have to say. And great track...I've always loved the Meat Puppets. (Though I haven't had the heart to check out the new one, have you?)
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Thanks Jenny...No, I had to stop around Monster..I was excited for them when Backwater was a hit, but I just didn't get the records anymore.
Good memories,mostly, from denver..Here I am with Mom in Cheeseman park
Good cheer to you too, goodmusic..and congrats on your Coachella tix Henry
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Awwwwwww, that's real nice. Real nice.
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Wow. I'm moved by your post. Divorce is so painful; I've been on the kid end and on the parent end, and I'd have to say that as strange as it sometimes was growing up without my dad (that's a story for another day), it's been much more painful for me to go through my own divorce. My guilt over the pain it has caused my daughter lives on even though it's been ten years; I guess it always will. I sometimes wish I could go back and do things differently in order to spare her that pain. On the other hand, she's beautiful and strong and well-adjusted and always has been. Someday, she may end up in therapy and may well drag me in there and tell me off. Who knows?
Anyway, thanks for sharing. And I love the photo. It's magical, really.
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Oh Cody... I'm reading _your_ post and sorry, sorry, I'm laughing my ass of, because I can SO relate... yeah, I guess most of us had our tastemakers at some crucial point in our lives... I think of mine often, and I'm so thankful for opening my eyes.... even today, I am boldly claiming that the whole internet thing is WAY more valuable in the hands of people who went through old fashioned record crate school!
I'm a bit younger than you, but I'll never forget hearing "Rapper's Delight" for the first time... I was around 10 years old and I'd taken my new radio/cassette recorder to the playground... I was on a teeter-totter when it came on... never knew this was going to direct my whole life, sort of...
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This is a great and very moving post. It really is amazing how the music that we find (or that finds us) at these stress points in life drills down so deep into our psyches. Great Meat Puppets song, too.
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Cody, since joining this little posse just a few weeks ago, I'm pretty much living for your posts. Your writing is exquisite. Your walk down memory lane really, jesus here comes a pun, struck a chord with me. Being a classically trained kid, I would eat up everything I could when I met people with their walls and walls of LPs. I listened and listened and listened. And, I too have a list of people I could credit for my tastes. I was very touched my your credit to Taras.
I recall reading in another post/comment somewhere that you were going to get back into school for journalism. Is it true? Well, please, if I can just give you a tiny push to say yes, then "yes yes yes!" Please do it. And, please keep writing and telling us these kinds of things. When you are working for that music journal of your dreams, I will invest in a lifetime subscription. May I also say that, as an older chick who went back to school too and is applying to more and never ever thought she had the juice, it's so much better for me at this age. I have a fire under my ass to learn now that I'm pushin' 40 that I could have never had at 18-22. I still don't know how I got out of undergrad intact. Luck. Sheer luck. Well, and a boatload of boozes.
keep talkin', please. I'm listening on the virtual shag carpet in the virtual room with walls and walls of LPs. et al.
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Cody, great post, personal and touching.
As with many others, I can relate. I was 12 when my dad left and we did the same deal, school with mom, summers with dad. I have to say that it really effected me. Sent me down a hole of addiction & buried emotion, that I am still pulling myself out of. On the other hand, its me, and its what I have had to deal with. Looked at from that perspective, I hold no grudges, would not really want to change anything, because that would be to deny big formative part of my life. And I firmly believe that there is meaning in the events that befall us and shape us, and sometimes, I get a glimpse that its maybe not as random as it seems on the surface. Music was a huge part of my life then, going through various stages, from early hip-hop, punk rock, reggae,...... etc don't need to list em all. Mog has been great for that, as well as exposing me to new stuff and getting me more excited about music I know but am not too familiar with, it has allowed me to revisit some of those formative stages, the influences of a pliable young boy.
Thanks for your reflections, they are valued.
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As MOGgers know in our hearts, what we're after is not just music, but that place where music intersects with people's lives - where music makes us human. You have done such a lovely job of illuminating one of those corners. I think most of us have had those characters in our lives - usually older, unquestionably too cool for this planet - who have opened our ears. Thanks God for them.
And after reading this, the Meat Puppets suddenly click for me. Thanks, man.
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Man, I got a lot of my favorite folks in here and I really appreciate the thoughtful responses. It is a hell of a lot easier reading your words than writing mine.
@exp-I have one grown up divorce under my belt. i thought waiting til 30 to get married would help (my parents were 20+24), but it did not. No kids thankfully. I'm sure one day we will have issues with our son even if we're together. We adopted him when he was 2, and he knows already at 6. He occaisionally mentions his other parents,now, so when he's 14 I'm sure he's not gonna be happy. But we're all three of us tough, we'll get through. Sounds like you've done an incredible job.
@micki-I think I posted long ago about my first time seeing the Sugar Hill Gang. Even though it was lip synching on some disco show I was hooked from the jump. Me and 2 high school mates rapped over the instrumental of Apache in full war paint garb at an assembly. I was Big Bank Hank.
@brendan- Coming from you..very cool..did everybody read this yet..
Your book should be required reading for music obsessives.
@Carolyn- breath of fresh air..you are more like a gale around these parts.
@dz- even though you represent the west..I totally respect your opinions and deep depths of your crates. thanks man.
@ivy- "unquestionably too cool for this planet "- that would be you..
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Buddy, isn't it amazing where music will take you from day to day?
Repo Man! I will be riding you ass for that one.
What a life, and a great story to boot.
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I raise a glass to Taras!
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Didn't take long did it, AhHaHaHaHaHaaaHaHaa!
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"It's all part of the Cosmic Unconsciousness"
How did I miss that reference, music-so-cal-punk rock-movie that me and my cousin (a very strong taste maker in my life) watched over a hundred times.....
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Cody, thoroughly enjoyed reading your road map to here and now. The Meat Puppets are a mood all unto themselves.
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Just so I can save myself getting totally lambasted here and so I can set the record straight..I worked for a company called Home Furniture Rental (yeah, I took peoples couches and tv's when they didn't pay the bill). Uh-oh i guess this might not save me. I also sold and delivered furniture..there was this one time where brang the good tidings of a stereo system to a mullet-beard man..He asked me to stay on as we listened to Hawkwind records for 2 hours..Now that's customer service.
I am...that's funny..I can take it though. Go ahead..
Dz, it's been a long time since I've seen that flick, I have to go back..the trailer seems like a cross between the Coen Brothers and Tarantino. The images of the generic products in the stores has always stuck with me.
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Wow- What an amazing post! I loved the story qualities of it. You're a really good writer with really eclectic musical taste. Love it! Thanks for this one. :)
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Thanks for stopping By Amy..and welcome to MOG. 'preciate the props.
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I would have to say Mr. Motown, Master of Puppets Meaty... this is by far one of my favorite posts... EVAH !!! Thanks for your fabulous words strung together with a lot of love :)
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"As MOGgers know in our hearts, what we’re after is not just music, but that place where music intersects with people’s lives – where music makes us human."
As often happens, Bill's words were so perfect I had to repeat them, and say a little "Amen".
And acknowledge that I kept nodding my head in agreement while reading Dzendvokh's first comment.
It's no surprise to me to find that if we looked more deeply into the hearts of our "top trusteds", we'd find more and more similarities.
I too held the belief that if I just waited until that magical age before getting married or having kids I'd stand a better chance of getting it right - or more right than my own parents had. Which, of course, is partially true. But then there's the whole "no guarantees" business. Which has taken a long time to make peace with. But I'm better at it now.
I sometimes resented my Dad for exposing me to the likes of Krishnamurti and such at an early age. Resented and loved it all the same. That's me.
And while we're all being so forthcoming, I'll share another insight I recently had - I can think of about 3 men who, had they been given the opportunity, would have truly loved me in that way we're supposed to crave. But I always turned away from those ones, and instead ended up with men who couldn't give me "everything". How about that for an insight at the ripe age of 33?
There. How's that for mental rocks?
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Pretty damn good,kristiana...
I prolly should've said mental rocks I need to break in my head...
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A poignantly written, candid, and informative post; great tribute to your pal Taras. Hope you will always feel inspired to continue attempting 'to replicate those moments' - it's your passion. Love the MP's Up On The Sun album - elicits fond memories personally. Had to check the post twice to make certain I was still on the Funk maestro's MOG page whilst listening to the song - delightful. :-) Cheers.
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that was a great read, man. i can relate with being reckless in my early years too (got expeled from school twice)... also drugs galore for a time... its part of life. my first tastemaker was given to me by my uncle david who is 10 years older than me. he acted like a big bro & introduced me to led zeppelin, rolling stones, alice cooper, iggy pop... that repo man job must had been quite something... the alex cox movie with emilio estevez came to mind too. as nick said..i watched it a few hundred times too. excellent tune, i have always loved meat puppets. one of the best posts i have read in the mog-world we live in. thanks for sharing your life with us, dude. its like knowing you a bit better.
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excellent, excellent post, Cody. i read it twice. i want to copy-paste it to TextEdit (yeah, i'm a Mac user) and just, i don't know, share it with future kids as the brilliant lesson in life i can not share with them first-hand with my relatively insular life. what i'm trying to say is... it's a fucking great post, thank you.
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Thank you PoeB coming from the likes of you..a kick ass writer, that means a lot..
@Girl C-I have a few rock records in my collection, but this one is really special. Glad you like. Thank You
@rocket-Man, i don't know if it can beat a post with charo, iris chacon, and olga breeskin videos but thank you.
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hahahah i guess its part of my nature to go random like that. iris and olga are my new muses. you may like to go here for a taste of 70s raunchiness http://mog.com/oceanrain/blog_post/124507